Sick-leave in women with alcohol dependence or abuse: effects of additional psychiatric disorders

The study objective was to assess sick-leave among women investigated in a general population survey of alcohol dependence/abuse (ADA). A total of 399 women, selected by stratified random sampling, were interviewed and diagno sed according to DSM-III-R. Data on sick-leave were obtained by linkage wit h the Social Insurance records. The study found that women with ADA but wit hout other psychiatric disorders had an increased number of annual sick-lea ve spells - 1.82 compared with 1.47 in the reference population whereas the mean duration was similar. Women with ADA and other psychiatric disorders had 2.38 annual spells, but also considerably longer spells (mean 16.54 day s vs 9.70). Socio-economic differences were large, with the less privileged groups having both more and longer spells. Stepwise multiple regression sh owed that both ADA and other psychiatric disorders contributed to high sick -leave incidence and duration, as, to a lesser extent, did low education an d low social group (the last variable only affected duration of the spells) . The frequency of disability pension/long sickness spells was higher in wo men with ADA (odds ratio of 2.95). We concluded that there is a strong asso ciation between ADA and sick-leave, which increases considerably in the pre sence of additional psychiatric disorders.